Yanukovych complained that the E.U. hadn’t offered enough in financial incentives to secure his signature. French President Francois Hollande ruled out more E.U. funds to sweeten the deal.

The bloc did, however, extend its geopolitical reach eastward during the summit by initialing agreements with Georgia and Moldova.

Russia had worked aggressively to derail the Ukraine deal by imposing painful trade sanctions and threatening its neighbor with giant gas bills.

Moscow had previously cut off gas supplies during bitter pricing disputes to leave Ukrainians freezing in the depth of winter. Now, it is offering Ukraine much-needed discounts for its natural gas in exchange for joining a Moscow-led Customs Union.

Yanukovych’s move sparked mass protests in the Ukrainian capital Friday on a scale not seen since the country’s 2004 Orange Revolution.